Surlic: Self-Determination’s mission is to avoid elections at all costs

Stefan Surlic, assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, told Kosovo Online that after April 4, when Vjosa Osmani’s presidential mandate expires, Self-Determination’s mission will be to avoid elections at all costs by seeking a presidential candidate acceptable to at least one opposition political option.

“That is a very difficult task, because the opposition parties, although divided among themselves, are united in the opportunity that new elections could reduce the lead of Self-Determination and the number of votes it won in the previous elections. A new player is Vjosa Osmani, whose mandate is expiring and who can join existing political parties and become a recognizable face of the opposition. I do not believe she will retire from politics, and I assume that one of the political options, specifically the Democratic League of Kosovo, will offer her not the position of party leader, but certainly a role as a recognizable figure in the campaign,” he said.

If a new president is not elected by the end of Osmani’s mandate, the acting president of Kosovo becomes the Speaker of Parliament, Albulena Haxhiu, which would mean that Self-Determination would hold the three main positions – president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament. However, Surlic believes that regardless of this, the opposition will still be able to boycott parliament, trigger early elections, and use the opportunity to potentially replace Self-Determination and form a broader coalition.

Surlic also explains that Haxhiu would remain acting president if a new president is not elected within the 34-day deadline set by the Constitutional Court, and that she would be able to participate in the process of calling elections.

She will, he points out, have to respect the deadlines prescribed by the Constitutional Court.

“In that sense, I do not see that Self-Determination can prolong what is already a clear decision of the Constitutional Court, which they themselves said they would respect and even requested the Court to rule on. The deadlines are very clear, and by the summer we could have new early parliamentary elections in Kosovo. She will have to respect the deadlines due to public pressure to reach some level of political normality, and I believe the decisive role will be played by the international factor. It does not want to allow a general state of institutional paralysis that has already lasted too long in Kosovo,” Surlic said.